User blog:JohnnyOTGS/John's crazy world~A few Misconceptions about Christopher Columbus
Today, we know Christopher Columbus as one of the World's greatest explorers as he is still considered the first person to discover the Americas when he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and to the Bahamas in 1492. But you may not know that Columbus has a few misconceptions about him. So, here they are. Misconception: Columbis was Italian 'Fact: '''We tend to believe that Christopher Columbus was from Italy and thus that makes him Italian. But in reality, he really wasn't, he was actually Genoan. Genoa today is a part of Italy, but in Columbus' time Italy didn't exist, it was made up of several soveregin city states and each were at war with each other. It wouldn't be until the mid or late 19th century where Italy as a modern nation would begin to rise. Misconception: It was easy for Columbus to achieve his dream '''Fact: '''Columbus always had a vision from his childhood to explore new lands around the world after being a fan of Marco Polo's diary: ''Wonders of the World. But he wanted to be different, not travel over land like Marco Polo, but over Ocean. But in the minds of most Europeans, they think that the Ocean beyond the western coast of Europe was so huge that nobody can sail across it. Because of this, the Empires and Kingdoms across Europe have refused to fund Columbus' ambitions (even his native Genoa). But by 1453, the Ottoman Empire have conquered Constantinople, virtually cutting off Europe and Asia's most viable trade route and those European Empires are now desperate to try to create new trade routes into Asia, bypassing Constantinople. But other Empires and Kingdoms of Europe wanted to have their own trade routes, and some of them were willing to take a risk to have somebody sail out to the mysterious Atlantic Ocean. In the late 1480's, the Spanish Empire was born as it won it's war against the Islamic Moors that were in the Iberian Penninsula for over a millenia. Now that they are a superpower in Europe, they can create their own trade routes to Asia, upoin hearing about the Spanish Empire's victory, Columbus sees this as an opportunity to achieve his life-long goal. The Spanish Empire complies and allows Columbus to sail out to the Atlantic Ocean. Even then, Columbus had to fight off the urge to turn and go back as his men were wanting to go back. After sailing for nearly a month, they arrived at the Bahamas (they believed it was Japan), and stumbled onto America. Misconception: Columbus was a swell guy 'Fact: '''Columbus' objective from the Spanish Empire is to create new trade routes to Asia. But Columbus also had his own agenda, as he likes to read Marco Polo's book, Polo mentions a land which he calls ''Cipangu (Japan) and as Columbus goes across Europe and learns more about this land of Cipangu, he learns that the land had enormous riches never before seen by European eyes. So, along with creating new trade routes to Asia, Columbus also wanted to find Cipangu and loot some of it's riches, of course because he discovered America, he never got the chance, and it's difficult to say that he robbed the native Bahaman people of their own riches, but during his other voages to the Americas he also led some envoys to look for gold and even helped create some gold mines in areas in South America. Just because he could be a theif, but that doesn't mean he was like the Spanish Conquistadors that came to Mexico several years after Columbus. There are also some sources that say that Columbus also sponsored prostitution. Misconception: Columbus had just one voyage '''Fact: '''His famous voyage in 1492 is what put Columbus in the history books, but he didn't just journeyed to the Americas just once, he went on as many as 4 voyages to the Americas, either to trade for spices or to sponsor Gold excavation. But the most important to all of his voyages is that it also mapped more of the world in ways that was never done before. That us all for today, don't forget to check out my other pages in JohnnyOTGS World as well as my Movie and Video Game wiki as well. Until then, this is JohnnyOTGS signgin out. Category:Blog posts